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Case 1:20-cv-01104-ESH Document 36-2 Filed 07/23/20 Page 1 of 13 Exhibit 1 to Plaintiffs’ Further Supplemental Brief in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment Case No.:1:20-cv-01104H- ES Case 1:20-cv-01104-ESH Document 36-2 Filed 07/23/20 Page 2 of 13 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ANGE SAMMA et al., on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, Civil Action No. [ J Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE et al., Defendants. DECLARATION OF MARGARET D. STOCK I, Margaret D. Stock, declare as follows: 1. I am a member of the Alaska Bar and the managing attorney of the law firm Cascadia Cross Border Law Group in Anchorage, Alaska. I am also a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Military Police Corps, U.S. Army Reserve. I previously taught at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, for nine years, and I have also taught on a part-time basis in the Political Science Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage. I have been admitted to the practice of law since 1993 . 2. As an attorney and a graduate of the Harvard Law School, I have practiced in the area of immigration and citizenship law for more than twenty-five years. I have represented hundreds of businesses, immigrants, and citizens seeking to navigate the difficult maze of the U.S. immigration system, and I volunteer regularly to handle "pro bono" cases with the American Immigration Lawyers Association Military Assistance Program (AILA MAP). In 2009, I concluded work as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Case 1:20-cv-01104-ESH Document 36-2 Filed 07/23/20 Page 3 of 13 Independent Task Force on U.S. Immigration Policy, which was headed by Jeb Bush and Thomas F. "Mac" Mclarty Ill. Prior to my transfer to the Retired Reserve in June 2010, I worked for several years on immigration and citizenship issues relating to military service while on temporary detail to the U.S. Army Accessions Command, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, and the United States Special Operations Command. I am also a recipient of a 2013 Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for my work relating to immigration law and national security. Finally, I am the author of the book "Immigration Law and the Military," now in its second edition. 3. Over the course of my career, I have regularly encountered members of the military who are facing possible deportation or removal from the United States due to alleged immigration law violations. Often these individuals face deportation or removal because the three different immigration agencies (Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), Customs and Border Protection ("CBP"), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS")) have different policies with regard to their treatment of military personnel who are alleged to have violated immigration laws. For example, ICE often encounters military members when doing interior enforcement. ICE has in the past had policies that disfavor placing military members into removal proceedings. Unfortunately, however, these policies seem to change with the attitude of the top political officials at ICE and are therefore unpredictable. 4. CBP typically encounters military members at the airport or at a land port-of-entry, and sometimes refuses admission to military members whose immigration papers appear not to be in order, or places them into removal proceedings at the border. For example, Case 1:20-cv-01104-ESH Document 36-2 Filed 07/23/20 Page 4 of 13 I once represented a military member who was placed into removal proceedings at the San Francisco airport because he flew into the United States from Japan, was not on military orders, and was in possession of a green card that CBP determined had been "abandoned." He was able to retain counsel and I was able to get his naturalization approved, whereupon the immigration judge terminated the removal proceedings. While generally CBP agents are supposed to follow the statutory directive of 8 USC § 1354, which exempts non-citizen service members from passport and visa requirements when entering or leaving the United States, some CBP agents have been trained with regard to this statute, and some have not. Others read the statute very narrowly and do not apply its provisions where the military member is not traveling on military orders. 5. USCIS is the most problematic immigration agency from the perspective of military members. USCIS does not have any official policy that requires the agency to review a person's military service before placing the person into removal proceedings; accordingly, many of the cases that I have encountered involve referrals to removal proceedings by USCIS officers. It is very common lately, for example, for USCIS Asylum Officers to refer current service members to removal proceedings if the USCIS Asylum Officer decides that the service member did not timely file an asylum application, or for a USCIS Field Office to refer a military member with a conditional green card to removal proceedings because USCIS has not approved the military member's pending I-751 Petition to lift the conditions on the service member's lawful permanent residence. 6. I have represented numerous service members in deportation and removal proceedings over the course of my career. For example, early in my career as an attorney I represented Case 1:20-cv-01104-ESH Document 36-2 Filed 07/23/20 Page 5 of 13 an Alaska National Guard member who was facing deportation by the old Immigration & Naturalization Service ("INS") because he had paid an Anchorage municipal fine for having driven onto a school parking lot in Anchorage with a lawfully owned firearm. 1 At various points in my career I have represented military members who were in removal proceedings but whose removal proceedings were terminated after they naturalized. 2 The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security take the official position that they are permitted to enforce immigration laws against currently serving members of the United States Armed Forces and they do not "drop charges" because someone is currently serving in the military. Typically, a military member facing removal is required to defend against the charges, which usually requires the person to retain private counsel, often at great expense to the service member. 7. Based on my knowledge and prior experience representing immigrant service members, Plaintiffs Jane Doe 1 and 2 are at risk of being placed in removal proceedings and deported, notwithstanding their ongoing military service. 8. Plaintiff Jane Doe 1 enlisted in the United States Army through the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest ("MAVNI") program. She was eligible to enlist in the MAVNI program as a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ("DACA") program. However, her DACA status has expired, and she currently does not have lawful immigration status. Due to the Department of Defense policy she is challenging in this lawsuit, Plaintiff Jane Doe 1 has not obtained a certification of honorable service and is therefore unable to apply for expedited naturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 1440. 1 All firearms offenses are deportable/removable offenses under U.S. immigration laws, no matter how minor. 2 Unlike civilians, military members and veterans are by law allowed to naturalize while in removal proceedings. Case 1:20-cv-01104-ESH Document 36-2 Filed 07/23/20 Page 6 of 13 9. Plaintiff Jane Doe 1 is at risk of being placed into removal proceedings if any of the immigration agencies notice that she lacks a valid immigration status. The current administration has incentivized its immigration agencies to place individuals into removal proceedings if they are out of status and are encountered by immigration agents. 10. Plaintiff Jane Doe 2 enlisted in the United States Army as a conditional permanent resident. After enlistment, she applied to remove the conditions on her permanent residency and obtain a "permanent" Green Card. Plaintiff Jane Doe 2's interview with USCIS to remove the conditions on her permanent residency was scheduled shortly before her ship-out date to basic combat training. In reliance on advice she received from her military recruiter and in expectation of naturalizing through the military, she chose not to attend the interview. Due to the Department of Defense policy she is challenging in this lawsuit, Plaintiff Jane Doe 2 has not obtained a certification of honorable service and is unable to apply for expedited naturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 1440. 11. Plaintiff Jane Doe 2 is very much at risk of having her conditional lawful permanent residence terminated and being referred for removal proceedings to the Department of Justice's Executive Office of Immigration Review ("EOIR"). USCIS has a policy of terminating the lawful permanent residence status of immigrants who do not timely file an 1-751 or who are deemed to have "abandoned" their 1-751 petition by failing to show up for a scheduled interview. USCIS does not take into account a person's active duty military service when terminating the person's conditional lawful permanent residence status. An example of a very similar case can be found in the record of the May 20, 2008 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, at which a Navy sailor named Karla Rivera testified. I Case 1:20-cv-01104-ESH Document 36-2 Filed 07/23/20 Page 7 of 13 was involved in assisting Ms. Rivera, who found herself in removal proceedings after USCIS terminated her conditional lawful permanent resident status when she failedto timely file an I-751 form.3 12.